Noticed for the first time yesterday that there is a sign up - it may be new -, forbidding bonfires etc, but also "No nudist bathing" accompanied by the simplified image of a person, waist upwards, with rings around the bottom suggesting water....

Does this mean don't go in the water nude, but on the beach is ok?  It's true that very few people do go in the water and I've always wondered why...

I'm told that the local landowner - who grants 'permissive' access to this beach - is tolerant of nude sunbathers provided that they don't go beyond the blocked off stretch of beach - I don't know if he is claiming rights to prohibit behaviour, or allow it, according to his whim - it's not to get into legal stuff that I go to the beach - but there is amongst regulars an inclination not to p*ss the landowner off..

So the clearest understanding I have is to only go in the water when there's no-one about and never go beyond the barrier.

ps:  Textiles mingled with the naturists yesterday - I think that they wanted to avoid the happy cries of children on the textile section.

There were 4 couples and about 6 single bloke naturists - the most couples I 've seen there - and I'm still struggling to understand why more folk don't use it.

pps:  It's said that the landowner accesses the sea with his boat full of children and it's for this reason that in the shallow water he doesn't want to see naturists wading in the water with their willies out...

I was at Calshot a few weeks ago.  Lovely quiet couple of hours by the sea. I also didn't realise there was free parking on the one-way system.  Only noticed the spaces on the way out! Worth a quick trip around it to see if there's any spaces.

I've found that to get there before 10.00 is to guarantee a free parking space, but if you arrive later just park further away towards the village, away from the sea.

This latter option means having to walk a bit further.  Why any naturist sees walking as an unwelcome inconvenience I don't know.  Their mindset seems to be that they want this, or that, and are affronted if they can't have it. " Life's not fair! " Yes it is.  In this case if you want to avoid parking charges (i.e. get something for nothing), go take a walk.  That's fair.

Back-to-back posts such as this, without any comment from anyone, lead me to believe that this beach is irrelevant and of no interest to anyone else, none of the time....

Still, a burning desire to 'contribute' to the greater good motivates me to relate my experiences in the hope that one single human being will take something from it...

On a rare sunny Saturday, in the holiday season, this beach played host to three single males and three mixed couples.  Oh, and fifty or more textiles on the main section of beach.  All of the naturists were spaced 30 or more metres away from each other.  No gawping and no overt homosexual activity...

It may be that the continuing increase in the number of females, accompanied, actually discourages those who would go for homosexual encounters - certainly I've seen no 'inappropriate' behaviour in the last couple of visits...

But it does mean that there are fewer users of the naturist section.  In fact, there was evidence of 'creeping textilisation' (a John Gw term), and much though some of us might smile on hearing the happy shrieks of happy children, recalling our own childhood, we might also feel unsettled by exposing ourselves to them...

So now I'm feeling that this beach is under threat.  Naturists run the risk of being ever-more marginalised here.  Where are the naturist beach-bums from the area?  If you have an objection, or preference for somewhere else in the area, would you like to post and make it known?  Malc, you post about Meon shore.  Should we abandon Calshot and drape ourselves lasciviously there????  If so, why????

Little did I think when I took up this malarkey would I find myself becoming evangelical, determined to stand up and be counted.  Yet here am I, a nondescript 'sad-act', feeling the need to 'fight 'em' on the beaches.....

ps:  You few females, you're worth your weight in gold.  You're worth 10 times that of a single lone male.  You 'normalise' our subject, you neutralise
prejudice.  Please know that you will feel comfortable on this beach....

Beaches such as Calshot, Lepe and those other "smaller" destinations will always have an insignificant number of naturists frequenting them in favour of the more bigger and established beaches at Studland and Eastney. Any naturist use of the smaller beaches is a big plus for the lifestyle and everyone who attends, no matter how infrequently, is supporting the precedence.

Both Calshot and Lepe have been missed out of the World Naturist Guide Book which will be rectified this year - I plan to visit both on Sunday to draft a composition on the location and facilities for inclusion so next year may find a sudden surge of users.

I might even take my fishing gear with me  🙂